Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008 Video Game) User Reviews

An Excellent Game

[Camel13 · 9/10 · 11 January 2009]

Despite being shorter than Anniversary, I felt that Underworld was a far superior game. This chapter in the history of Lady Lara Croft corrected most of the frustrating mistakes of it's predecessor and made it an enjoyable gaming experience that was almost on par with Legend. Underworld steered away from using extreme difficulty and repeated death as a means to increase the playtime and therefore made the game far less frustrating, to the point of being extremely enjoyable. I have completed the main story, but I can assure you that I will be returning to each level to retrieve the collectibles I missed on the first run (which Anniversary didn't inspire me to do).

Don't get me wrong, though, there are minor technical glitches, such as enemies freezing in place, places where Lara can easily get 'stuck' and on one occasion she became permanently invisible, forcing me to reboot, but these are only minor annoyances. One other gripe I have about Underworld is that I don't think it lived up to the hype that Eidos tried to generate. The "What Could Lara Do?" tag-line built my hopes up to expect a world where anything was possible and where no place was off limits. Although the levels were deliciously grand, my expectations were quickly dashed when, in the first level, I found myself on a boat with dozens of doors and hatches, almost none of which could be explored. I'm not saying that Underworld is bad, just not what it was made out to be.

Although Underworld did see a return of Zip and Allister, they only appeared at the beginning and end of levels and in the second half of the game, they were absent entirely. I felt a little cheated by this as these two characters (and Winston) made Legend feel much brighter and more fun than any previous TR game. Their constant playful jibes and contributions to the level-at-hand gave the game a less lonely feeling and allowed us to see Lara's wit, warmth, charm and flaws, making her a much more interesting character. Though there are several moments where Lara's true emotions are shown, for the most part of the game, she feels much, much less three dimensional than she was in Legend. Ironic, considering the amount of work they put in to making her look more realistic, physically. To be quite honest, Lara's three friends simply felt 'tacked-on', rather than integrated in the story.

And then there is the story. It is very good, well thought out and involving. The personal twist Lara discovers at the end of the Thailand mission was wonderful. But, as the name of the game implies, Underworld's plot goes places much darker than that of Legend or even Anniversary. Some people may remember me starting a thread in the forum for this game about whether Lara's character would be tarnished by actions she takes in this game. I am pleased to say that that is not the case - Lady Croft in Underworld is a noble, if imperfect, heroin. But what she has to endure in this game is cruel. The resolution to one ongoing aspect of the plot was especially cruel, as if the writers sat around and asked themselves "What's the most punishing way (for Lara) that we can resolve this part of the story?" It's just one of many emotional blows the player is forced to endure during this game and, unfortunately, they are not countered by superior uplifting or hopeful moments. While well done, I would've preferred it if the story had been a lot kinder to Lara.If you need your entertainment to end happily, this probably isn't the game for you.

All-in-all, I believe that Legend remains the finest Tomb Raider game ever, although Underworld has just claimed second place. In spite of it's heart-wrenching moments, it was a well designed and involving game that was not bogged down with infuriating, repetitive difficulty.

Now I'd like to end with a plea to Eidos: PLEASE leave the game engine as is and devote your time (in the next TR volume) to making more levels! These wonderful games that you are making are over far too soon! I would have gladly settled for the Legend engine and graphics if it meant you would have spent the time you saved building three or four more levels! I am extremely grateful for the wonderful gaming experience I have just had, but I don't mind sounding like a greedy bastard when I say: "I WANT MORE!"

A work of art ... with predictable(?) flaws

[blubb06 · 8/10 · 14 January 2009]

As a die-hard fan of the Tomb Raider series I naturally had to have this game, the more so after reading the glowing reviews on Amazon. They turned out to be mostly true -- the game definitely is a feast for the eyes and lavishly rich in detail. Wherever you look, elaborate ruins, statues and vegetation abound. There are only 20 or so "levels" in six distinct areas to explore, but each one of them is spectacular. This is a satisfying reward for me (finally) getting a shader 3.0 video card. The game won't run on older hardware.

More good things first: Lara's interactive capabilities have further improved from her previous two adventures, her movements look more lifelike thanks to motion-capturing and scripted events, like pushing vegetation out of the way. More important is her extended repertoire of useful moves: She can now balance on horizontal poles as well as swing from them, stand on narrow ledges, climb alcoves by jumping from wall to wall and use her grappling hook more effectively (how about enabling her to use grappled objects as jump-off or -up points, once she's reached them?) So I'm happy to say the "next-gen" experience begins to approach something like the natural "feel" of the classic series, where YOU played the game -- Tomb Raider Next-Gen often feels more like the game is playing you! Thankfully there are no "Press this button now"-events, and no boss battles. The developers achieved their goal of re-invigorating the core qualities of Tomb Raider -- exploration and immersion. (But: If you're going to use new action keys, dear developers: Please include a comprehensive training level for newbies -- thank you! It greatly helps with the immersion when you don't have to look up the "throw away-key".)

For the most part, it simply looks & feels gorgeous. But the overwhelming richness in detail seems to have some inherent drawbacks -- the blocks of the world aren't obvious any longer, but they're still there. Just try to stray from the predestined path, and you'll know what I mean -- invisible walls everywhere; things & ledges Lara won't grab, low obstacles she can't jump over and even solid objects she'll fall through. There are some funny videos on Youtube -- but it's not really fun to encounter in a Tomb Raider game. This has been an issue since "Legend", but "Legend" and "Anniversary" combined don't have as much appetizing content as "Underworld", and the player stays hungry like the poor kid in front of the gourmet shop. Right now, all that detail is fake -- maybe we'll need next-but-one-gen computers to really use it? Good looks are a great device to keep players hooked, and I'm definitely saying: This game is a "must-see". But in terms of game-play the "next-gen" approach still has to match the classic series. And maybe it never will.

The story: It's quite good by Tomb Raider standards (meaning: the "meat" of the story is the most convoluted bundle of myths yet), but honestly it's the least I care about. I'm beyond my teen years, I'm used to skipping cut scenes... But in Next-Gen, they can't be elegantly avoided (and they're often great-looking respites from having to go through the motions :-(). To me, the classic Lara was never more than a cool placeholder for the player. Only when the series started to get old, the focus was shifted on Lara as a "personality". And I really, really, don't want to know her IQ or her cup size, but for the sake of the game I wish she'd get over that fixation about Mommy & Daddy for good. I kind of miss the humorous touch.

Some people have claimed the game is too short (true, it's the shortest of the Next-Gen games) and that it looks a bit rushed in terms of hidden objects and replay value -- I still haven't found all of them. But one more or less serious "bug" is the reload-checkpoint system that "forgets" where you moved objects before you died. I wish someone would take the time to make proper savegames possible again. On the other hand, I am getting used to the camera -- it's simply a matter of training. But -- Lara should be conveniently TRANSPARENT again when she blocks the camera! I have no idea why this still isn't implemented.

Conclusion: Go get it, even if it isn't perfect -- it's a great eye-opener. I'm already looking forward to the next one. Let's hope this quality and attention to detail can be sustained or even improved upon, and the Implementors find time & ways to make Lara's paths ever less linear.

Fantastic addition to the Tomb Raider Series, delivers on everything it promised.

[wswraith9 · 8/10 · 27 December 2008]

Despite what some reviews around the net say, TR:U is a fantastic step forward for the series. While not overly different from Legend and Anniversary, it has definitely taken inspiration from the two and combined all of the best bits of both.

The story itself is extremely compelling, and the ending is truly epic and moving. We finally get to see Lara uncover the truth about the events beginning in Legend, and they even tie up with events from TR1 and Anniversary. The story is what kept me going, something that hasn't happened since Mass Effect and Gears 2.

As you may have guessed, I have played the game on Xbox 360. I have an open mind for all platforms (and play on PC as well), but I believe Tomb Raider is best played on your console of choice due to the fact the controls work so well on a controller. Apart from some minor control quirks and the odd camera moment, most of the game remains solid and stable and never did the quirks frustrate or hamper the experience.

Some familiar characters return for Underworld, including Zip and Alistair. If there is one thing I would have changed in Underworld, it's that Zip and Alistair don't play as big a role as in Legend, which is a shame because there are times in Underworld where you know you would be hearing them if you were playing Legend.

Some people however will like this approach, as there are no hints and tips given to you when solving puzzles, as Zip and Alistair are oblivious to your actions. Instead, Lara films her expeditions with an HDD camcorder (which has the same amount of battery every time she uses it), and this progresses the story in the same way Zip and Alistair did in Legend.

Being more like Anniversary will certainly please the older fans, but for people who properly joined the series at Legend (like me), some will feel the lack of dialogue is, well, lacking. This however is only my opinion, and on the plus side the lack of dialogue certainly adds to the feeling of isolation present throughout the game.

Overall, Underworld is a great game, with dazzling graphics in a similar style to 'Uncharted' on the PS3. The exploration and story really keep you going, and the generally epic feel to the game makes it feel like a Hollywood blockbuster. Keep it up Crystal Dynamics, you're doing a fine job.

Great game hampered only by a few flaws.

[johnnymacbest · 8/10 · 23 December 2010]

I really enjoyed Tomb Raider: Legend, I was so enraptured in Lara Croft that I instantly got Underworld. And by far, this ranks up with Legend quite close but the length of the game diminished some of the enjoyment out of it. On the plus side, the graphics are absolutely WONDERFUL. I've never seen a Tomb Raider game with this much detail in the graphics and Underworld has it in spades from jungles, to ancient cities and ruins and even underwater and the mythical lands of Norse mythology. One other thing that really impressed me the most was that I learned that the creators went to great lengths researching Norse mythology and how it ties into other legends of the world. Wow, such an achievement. I'd say Underworld is an amazing game that is almost up to par with Legend, but a longer game would definitely made me more happier.

Underworld stands on its own by capturing the essence of the original Tomb Raider and bringing back the classic characters

[perkj-66747 · 8/10 · 12 May 2021]

By the end of The Last Revelation, Croft was merely left for rubble and in Chronicles, just a slew of memories. Thus, Murti Schofield was hired by Core Design to rewrite the series. The result was Angel of Darkness, in which Schofield opted for a gothic renovation of Tomb Raider inspired by both noir and Blood Omen. At the start of AOD, Croft is the accused in Paris for a murder involving her mentor, Werner Von Croy. At this point in the franchise, AOD was deemed a commercial failure and Schofield burned most of his manuscript as a result. Once Crystal Dynamics took over the franchise they would not continue with Schofield's proposed sequel, The Lost Dominion. Instead, they hired Croft's original creator, Toby Gard to consult them in reimagining Croft for Underworld, in which both Gard and Eric Lindstrom were nominated for their writing.

Despite the craftsmanship that went into AOD, Crystal Dynamics diverted from what Schofield initiated in favor of bringing Gard back to the series. Some of his concepts would resurface again in Underworld such as burning down the Croft Manor at the start of the game. For Underworld, Crystal Dynamics used the Legacy of Kain technology to sway foliage in Coastal Thailand, whereas Core Design rendered a blizzard wrecking over Prague with their broken game engine. This did not contribute to Eidos Interactive's expectations at their attempt to tie-in AOD with The Cradle of Life. Likewise, both Gard and Lindstrom prevented another catastrophe by borrowing from the films. The first film had Croft invested in the research proceeded by her father, Richard Croft. This is carried over into Underworld, but this time Croft uses her fathers studies to investigate her mother who disappeared in the Norse underworld of Helheim. Moreover, Gard brings back several of his characters from his original including the wicked Atlantean Queen, Natla and her doppelgänger who now resembles the darker iteration of Croft in AOD instead of bacon.

Sneaking and posing as Solid Snake was a change of character in AOD. Additionally, maneuvering Croft was made even more awkward with broken mechanics that was rarely reminiscent of the original. Eventually, the player would discover the Tomb of Ancients beneath The Louvre. However, much of the game was spent conversing with characters in a Parisian Ghetto via dialogue trees straight out of The Longest Journey. Crystal Dynamics reverted Underworld back to Gard's original intention with traversal environments that made steering Croft more fluid, especially by reintroducing her sprinting ability and motorcycle last seen in The Last Revelation. The QTE's and on-rails vehicles in Legend resonated with the series origins on the Sega Saturn, yet Tomb Raider was never an arcade game and thankfully this ideology is restored for Underworld. In redemption, a tailoring system is implemented that allows increased difficulty and options to hide all the in-game prompts making for a more challenging experience.

The score in the original Tomb Raider consisted of choirs by Nathan McCree that would cue when a new puzzle or vista was discovered. This formula is replicated again for Underworld by the BAFTA winner, Troels B. Folmann in collaboration with the Emmy nominee, Colin O'Malley. Also, their score alludes to the orchestrated tone featured in AOD, which was composted by Peter Connelly, Martin Iveson, and performed by The London Symphony Orchestra. The classical throwbacks in Underworld sound phenomenal, especially the hymn that echoes just before Croft platforms across some ancient ruins in Coastal Thailand. Furthermore, Jonell Elliot's more brash portrayal of Croft in AOD is toned down in Underworld by the award winning actress, Keeley Hawes. Her performance resembles the characterization presented in the original game along with Angelina Jolie's portrayal in the films, thus making Hawes more in line with what Gard had envisioned.

Due to the commercial failure of AOD, Schofield literally burned the game's manuscript, which inevitably prompted Crystal Dynamics to reboot Tomb Raider with Gard as their consultant. To make up for Schofield's proposed sequel, Eidos shoehorned novel adaptions such as The Amulet of Power by Mike Resnick, but ultimately it was Gard's decision to start fresh with a reimagining of his character. However, some of Schofield's concepts did resurface in Underworld with Gard and Lindstrom using their depiction of a darker iteration for the series. They examined Croft's portrayal in AOD and applied this to Underworld's reimagined doppelgänger who now serves as Croft's alter-ego. It was a bold move for Crystal Dynamics to value Gard's industry experience having worked on Tomb Raider and Galleon with Paul Douglas. In retrospect, Underworld stands on its own by capturing the essence of the original Tomb Raider and bringing back the classic characters, even without a big-budget film to compensate for its success.

Visually beautiful but game-play disappoints

[amorphous_being · 6/10 · 8 December 2008]

Tomb Raider Underworld looks like a current generation game but feels like it is still stuck in the past. Let's start with the good looks. The environments in Underworld are stunning and grand. The lighting, reflections and textures look fantastic. The character models look a lot more realistic than in previous games, with Lara having a much more athletic build. Lara still has a plastic Michael Jackson face, which does ruin the immersion a bit, but at least it doesn't affect the game-play. Lara is now mo-capped, adding a lot more flexibility to the character, e.g. Lara can jump and grab the very corner of a ledge which is on a strange angle.

For all the good looks this game has, there are so many things that spoil the game-play. The first noticeable thing is the camera. It does nothing to aid the flow of the game or enhance Lara's movement, in fact it impedes you so many times. instead of zooming out when you need it to, it instead gets stuck behind Lara's back, sometimes it goes above Lara so you can't even see her. This means half the time you cannot see where you are going when you are climbing/jumping. When this happens you can either plan your route from the ground (which isn't always possible) or guess where you have to jump, often resulting in death because you've overshot the mark. The camera is also a hindrance in gun battles, as it jumps around so much, and rarely focuses on the target. The gun battles are so bad it almost feels like it was tacked on because traditionally Lara has had to shoot something. The secrets/relic hunt is quite boring, and they seem scattered arbitrarily through the game for the sake of it. For the first time, the secrets hunt really does not add any replay value and is quite tedious.

Underworld's saving grace is the level design, with huge puzzles and huge levels. Unfortunately, the game simply was not long enough. Experienced tomb raiders should have no problem completing the game. I managed to complete it in less time than Legend, which was a huge disappointment. As good as the story and levels are, the bad camera, the length of the game, and the little replay value will ensure that I do not revisit Underworld for a while. The exclusive content for the Xbox 360 should not have been exclusive at all, as this game really could have used a few more levels. Underworld really does feel like a half-game.

This game just rocks !!!

[stusinec · 10/10 · 11 December 2008]

I think that your review is too harsh ... I think that Underworld is one of the best games in Tomb Raider series along with Legend. You are mentioning glitches which existence i can't deny, but as in any game, the patches will come out and i don't think that you can judge it by first impressions. I think that graphics are great, characters are very well made and that the game has more interesting story than any other game I've played. Environment is indeed nicely designed and the movement seems pretty correct. Only thing that is odd is when Lara falls and she bounces up high from ground, but i think it will be fixed with the next patch. Camera can be tricky on some parts, that's true, but it's really OK in most parts. As for your comments on graphic i would suggest that you try to run game on "high" graphic mode and on highest resolution you can and you will see that graphics are amazing. That's only my opinion and game review, no hard feelings meant !!

The 7th age is disappointing

[www-rabid-duck · 6/10 · 25 January 2009]

I have been a Tomb Raider fan for years now and when Tomb Raider Underworld was said to be the best Tomb Raider yet i couldn't wait for its release. However it was unfortunately short, it only had 1 more additional level than legend which therefore means that it only had 8 maybe the creators are trying to tell us that the number of the Tomb Raider is the same amount of levels e.g. Tomb Raider Legend was the 7th in the series and it had 7 levels and Tomb Raider Underworld being the 8th has 8 levels. Although it was short the game wasn't all bad it had once again a very strong storyline which makes it almost impossible to stop playing the game although i found that the emotion in the game at points was put across poorly. The graphics were amazing as always and the game play is fun and interesting especially with the new weapons that she finds over the course of the game. The makers have really focused on design and movement with this game making it seem more realistic and of course as any Tomb Raider fan will know that this one contains blood. I am still with Tomb Raider 2 being my favourite but they are getting closer to the greatness they once had and who knows maybe my opinion will changed within a few years.

First Tomb Raider game and really enjoyed it

[zandylovesRISK · 10/10 · 18 February 2011]

This is my first review so go easy on me. Tomb Raider: Underworld follows the story from the previous game Tomb Raider: Legend where Lara, as a 9 year old girl gets stranded in the Himalayas with her mom when, suddenly her mom disappears through a portal and Lara tries to solve the mystery that her dad started about what really happened to her mom. So she starts out in the Mediterranean Sea after a colleague of her dads said that a hint about Avalon might be in some ruins at the bottom. After playing through the game I found that it was similar to 2 games that I owned before getting it, those two being Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire. HP, because of the puzzle solving and collecting Wizard Cards, and James Bond because of the shooting and different weapons, though I liked Underworld's camera view better than James Bond.

The graphics were amazing; it's like watching a movie especially with the cinematics in the game; the story is unbelievably awesome, unpredictable and very well thought out and done and also connected very well to Legend's story; combat was very fun especially with the Adrenaline Headshot. The only blemish(9.5 but can't do that so 10) with my rating is with the camera angles at certain points in the game. Make sure, at least, to buy Legend first to get accustomed with the story before playing Underworld which is the climax of the story like I did. You can buy Anniversary edition if you want to. Some people didn't like how Allister and Zip weren't in Underworld as much as Legend but It didn't bug me as much. One glitch that I had to endure was during the Southern Mexico level, I got stuck because I saved my game after jumping over a pillar laying across the hallway in Xibalba then stopped and went back to go get a treasure, but when I started from when I saved it, the motorcycle was on the other side of the pillar than I was so I had to start over, just to warn you.

Visually Entertaining, but Lacks something...

[Rachie4294 · 6/10 · 27 March 2009]

After the Recent hype about this game leading up, I decided to rent it before actually buying it. That was the smartest choice i Had ever made.

I've been a TR fan since it originally came out, so I wonder if this step for 2Gen to 3Gen would really push the game to new boundaries. It didn't really. Sure, level design, research and all of that kind of stuff was really done well... But character development and main fights was not there at all. A big no-no for any kind of game , especially for such a proclaimed game franchise.

Eidos design did the wrong thing with this game, by putting the power of Thor's hammer into your hands too early so you become reliant on it. I found this happened in the Final level on Legend thus causing no challenge what-so-ever.

Also, the final battle with Natla was not there. At all. It was a anti-climatic cut scene and wasn't that exciting. Also, there was no sort of cover system with battles with mercenaries. I expected that, but when 10-20 men are surrounding you with machine gun, I don't really think your going to survive.

Towards the end, puzzles became bland and too expansive. Kind of like Last Revelation way, spanning across several levels. After a while, I just wanted to chuck the Xbox remote at the screen and give up.

Overall, this game is sinking towards the Angel of Darkness section. Hell, this game makes AoD look really appealing right now. I'm hoping that the DLC will bring this game out into the spotlight again. I'm giving this a 6, mainly for level design. I would only recommend that you play it if you have had previous experience with Anniversary and Legend, otherwise you won't really know what's going on or how the game really runs.

Tomb Raider underworld

[bbybtxpz · 10/10 · 20 December 2023]

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Tomb Raider: Underworld, more like return of the Angel of Darkness

[newmoon96 · 5/10 · 13 March 2012]

As my summary title states, I was not pleased with this game. Many times I while playing I would simply think, was this really needed? Or, why did they include that? Don't get me wrong, this game is virtually stunning, and the game play is nice, but some things just ticked me off. To say the least, I finished this game in a day, I received it for Christmas the year it came out, I got it with my PS3, and I stayed up all night playing it. I got to Jan Mayan Island in four hours, collecting almost half of the treasures in each level. I was born in 1996, so I have been around as long as Lara has, and I must say, the new Lara in this game is more uglier than the one in the original Tomb Raider. The look of Lara Croft in Underworld seemed like it would fit better in a different game, in a whole other franchise. The face, eyes, mouth, and upper body are just all wrong. It looks like someone tried to throw Lara off a cliff and resemble her themselves. I would have much rather liked it if they stuck to the original design and just revamped it a little, much like Legend or Anniversary.(Note* If you play Tomb Raider Legend on the PS3 in the trilogy game, you can see many similarities in the old Lara and in that one.)

Pros, Levels and tomb areas are beautiful, I have no complaints. Rage attacks are done a little bit more with a challenge which I like. Thor's Hammer. It blows Excalibur completely out of the water :3

Cons. Lara's new plastic surgery. She looks like a transvestite, or a woman beat with the ugly stick many times. I don't know who they based this Lara off of, because it sure looks nothing like Alison Carroll. Lara seriously looks like a Barbie that you can find at the dollar general.

Game Play is way way too short. Things are to much fast paced, I don't know a person alive who moves that fast, it looks like something out of the twilight universe.

Glitches. The glitches remind me of Angel of Darkness. I can make Lara jump one way, and she will do a twirl spin in the air and fall to her death. Or while ridding her bike, out of no where she will just go 'ahh' or 'oof' and take damage. And this one time, I fell through the Med Sea, like literally, I had to restart my playtation and everything.

Camera. The camera angel is a little funky, especially in the tomb raider trilogy game. I can be looking forward, and all of the sudden the camera will start to bounce, and I will be looking behind Lara.

No Zip or Alister commentary through out the game. I really missed this, this was one of my favorite things about Legend. Because Lara just making little ooos or ahhs while jumping gets boring, and its great to see that some people actually care about Lara's well being.

Alister died. I mean WTF? There was no reason to kill him at all, there seemed to be no reason why this was done, only because. You don't see him at all through the rest of the game, or in Avalon, which i would have loved seeing him as a thrall. I wished they would have had his presence shown at least once through the last level.

Blocky Lara. Lara moves really blocky, her swan dive is all messed up, it looks like a monkey in a human suit jumping awkwardly.

The burned down her manor. Again, there seemed to be no reason behind this, only because Amanda needed her wraith stone. I think they could have accomplished this in a totally different way, with out that whole fiasco. I honestly would have enjoyed a fight between Lara, the Doppleganger, and Amanda in the foyer of Croft Manor or something like that.

No boss fights. None what so ever. Not even a sliver of a hard enemy in this game. I suppose the thralls, but there an easy kill.

A must use of other weapons. I really don't like this, how they make you choose a side weapon. I love the challenge of using only the pistols in the games, makes the game more interesting. I mean, I know you don't have to use the other weapons, but I still wish they could have been a choice.

Natla was as easy as ever. She is suppose to be the big baddie, but you only have conversation with her about three times in the game, four, if you watch the 'Previously on Tomb Raider' video.

179 treasures, that give you nothing except developers content. I would have really loved outfits like in Legend and Anniversary, but sadly you can only use what they give you, and one unlockable outfit you can only use in the first level.

6 relics in 6 levels, that only give you a slight health boost, that you don't need because Lara rarely takes that much damage in this game.

Those are my complaints. I am not saying to not buy this game, it is a really nice game, but be prepared for glitches and bugs, and fast pace, and if your a Tomb Raider gamer with experience, you could find yourself on the third level within an hour or two. Also, if you get the PS3 version of the game, the only thing that may take you longer to do is the trophies, which hey, they don't even take that long.

Tomb Raider, angel of darkness 2.0

[kels-errific · 5/10 · 25 November 2008]

Whoa. Am I about to tear into this game given the fact I gave it a 5 out of 10? You bet your adventure seeking a$$es I am. Because crystal dynamics is more capable than this. Because Tomb Raider deserves everything they promised sans the glitches and horrible collision detection. Because not since Angel of Darkness has Lara re-discovered her ability to phase through solid objects, and get stuck on the smallest twig, stuck enough to make you wander what happened to quality control. So the story is intriguing, the environments gorgeous and the soundtrack beautiful. Excellent job there, CD! Now... Seeing as how Tomb Raider has evolved, they got one step right. Motion capture for Lara. However, after SO many iterations of this game, I want to see a realistic Lara. It seems detracting to have realistic movements placed over a character playing in realistic environments, but possessing the face of a Brats doll. Seriously, after all these games, she still has the same nose as in the first playsation game, which to PSOne's credit was all they could render at the time. If they want to retain a cartoon-y look, have continuity. Make the game all cohesive, not cartoon-y Lara vs. realistic world. Next, the collision. OH LORD, this, and the camera have seriously impeached my love for Lara. You know what I take this as? A product suffering because of multiple ports. If they want to reach every console owning gamer under the sun, take care with each version. The camera is terrible in this game. I can't count the number of times I freaked out as I was on a ledge, and couldn't see where to go next, so I gathered I was to take a leap of faith in the game, only to find my deduction like two inches off. Seriously. I don't remember having this much of an issue with tomb raider legend or anniversary. Thirdly, combat. Combat on my PS3 sucked. It felt sloppy, evading and shooting is a terrible affair, the camera starts freaking out as you are locked on to an enemy, but you can't see the enemy, as the game engine is trying to stay on Lara bouncing around. I literally wanted combat reduced by like 95% it is that bad. Unless the next tomb raider can somehow design a combat system that is amazing, like... A-MAZ-ING , then I almost suggest taking it out completely. Exploration was what made me continue to play this game. And it sucks, as had these problems been rectified, this could have been THE tomb raider experience to get. As it stands, boo CD. Plus, where is the bonus content for PS owners? You know, the company your initial user base took you up on? 360 exclusive content? Color me offended.

Just like Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness

[reyndeer · 5/10 · 18 February 2010]

I'm a big Tomb Raider fan, have played all the previously released games, including gold games, and I must say, this game is most like Tomb Raider AOD: A great story, stunning new graphics, and out of control controls. Although this game doesn't contain as many texture glitches as AOD, the setback is that the camera is completely out of control. It's like they put the game on 2x speed compared to Tomb Raider Anniversary, which completely takes out the pleasure of playing the game, and just makes you confused and even sometimes nauseous. The story is interesting, and in line with the previous game Tomb Raider Legend, although in this game you have no idea where to go, because the textures are too realistic and the camera is in your way. It's just really, REALLY disappointing how they managed to screw this game up so badly in gameplay, like so many new games, always such a hurry to make it before some deadline.

A decent entry in the Tomb Raider series, but no more than "average" overall.

[BudgetSecurityGames · 5/10 · 16 October 2015]

The story and atmosphere are decent but not great. Most of the gameplay is puzzle platforming. This sometimes gets a bit repetitive, but there is enough variation and cutscenes to prevent it from getting too tedious. The balance between platforming and other types of gameplay is better than in TR-Anniversary (which was all platforming) but maybe not quite as engaging for the masses (and me) as the 2013 reboot (which had more action). The platforming difficulty is generally good for most of us, but on the easy side for hardcore gamers. I struggled with some parts, but always got through after a while. Some environments look really nice (Thailand), but others have rather bare and bland level design. The combat is fairly bad, as expected with this series. The checkpoint save system is also annoying, but not too bad.

Though some of the veterans will scoff, I find the optional "field assistance" hints an improvement over the previous games that offered no help at all - now I am less likely to need to look up solutions online when I get stuck. There is still big room for improvement in this area though. At least there are difficulty settings for specific things like enemy health and fall damage.

Lara's controls are a bit mixed. In some ways they are fine, but they also feel a bit nervous and she moves less natural (less inertia and animation flow) than in TR-Anniversary. As usual, sometimes the controls don't do what you want, causing many accidental deaths. Also, the camera behaviour can be disorienting, and the FOV is unpleasantly low. At least there is no mouse acceleration. The HUD is bad - you have to open your PDA to change weapon and see how much ammo you have. None of these flaws are game breaking though.

Tip: To improve the graphics beyond the max ingame settings, i suggest forcing AF to x4 (ingame AF setting does not work) and AA transparency to 4x supersampling in nvidia control panel.

I would say this is a game to get when on sale, and only if you are OK with a lot of puzzle platforming.

An OK sequel that runs very messy

[PlayerSS · 4/10 · 27 December 2008]

This is a continuation of the story from Tomb Raider Legend. Crystal Dynamics third Tomb Raider game and Lara's complete next gen debut. The game sadly follows Angel of Darkness's footsteps in making Lara's first game on the new generation of consoles a mess. Rife with glitches and poor framerate. The whole game has a rushed quality to it. Which Eidos is known for rushing their developers.

Graphically the game looks great. There have been tweaks and improvements to some animations and stuff that Lara does. Everything is mo-capped now, so that it gives Lara and the other characters a better sense of realism. There are a lot of subtle things here I appreciate with the animations.

There is a dark side to the animations though. Some animations are stiff. Like her swan dive for example. She looks like a 500 pound anvil dropping, because she does it so fast. Other animations are also stiff and sometimes jerky.

Next complaint is the shoddy camera. The camera was somewhat of a hassle in Anniversary, but never this bad. The camera flips, dips, and trips all around to every place except where you want it or need it to be.

The combat has it's issues as well. First off this is just a personal preference of mine, but I wished they would have included a customizable control scheme, but sadly there isn't one. The reason why I say this is, because shooting is R2. I'm used to it being R1, so I found R2 to be awkward all through the game. One addition that I'm glad returned was blood. Enemies now spray a little blood when she shoot them.

There are some lazy design choices at work as well. Every human in the game is a one hundred percent exact clone of each other. There are two areas that are exact clones of each other as well.

Through the game I encountered four glitches. I fell through a boss one time, I went through a boat wall, close to the end of the game the screen just went black and I had to cut off my PS3 and turn it back on before I could do anything else, and at one point the screen went completely gray. That was fixed by going into the menu and going back to the game.

Two other things I'm really peeved about is the fact that they took out her mansion that you could mess around in outside of story mode. Another thing is the lack of unlockable costumes. In fact there are NONE. What few that are coming are going straight to the Xbox to be exclusive there. This game is shorter than Anniversary as well, but longer than Legend by a small margin.

There are some improvements here. The voice acting it good. The story is fairly good. The cutscene animations are superb, but Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball with the technical aspects of the game. The game could be patched to fix some of these problems, but there has been no word on any patch. Everything else coupled with 360 basically getting everything to make it a more complete game and you've got a game here for the PS3 that doesn't justify it's $60 price.

Glitched, broken, and buggy

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 3/10 · 7 November 2012]

How fitting that 2008, the year that Lara Croft reached her lowest point, is also the year that gave us Nathan Drake, a far more appealing and engaging treasure hunter/adventurer. The styles of the franchises have oft been compared, but where Lara breaks down and fails Nathan Drake excels.

Core Design had been swallowed-up by Eidos at this point so it was left to Crystal Dynamics and Nixxes Software to bring this to consoles, and they did a pathetic job. Even software students could do a better game than this. The camera is epileptic, which is agonizing for a game that requires precision timing and judgment. The graphics are bland. The action is dull. Levels are long and boring with too much detail on meaningless treasure hunting (the Platinum depends on you getting all 179 treasures in the game, but it's glitched, so you're screwed) and not enough action.

It's time for Lara to hang up her hot pants. Tomb Raider is so 1996.

Graphics B- Sound C Gameplay C Lasting Appeal D